


friends don't treat me like you do

by thomasmxller



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: M/M, Some angst, dumb boys in love, i was very inspired for about 800 words and then i realized i needed plot so, mostly just boys being dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-20 13:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17623337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thomasmxller/pseuds/thomasmxller
Summary: The worst thing about being in love with your best friend is that sometimes you can pretend that they want you too.





	friends don't treat me like you do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vulcanistics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulcanistics/gifts).
  * Translation into 中文 available: [不是朋友](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17895137) by [mashumaro22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mashumaro22/pseuds/mashumaro22)



The worst thing about being in love with your best friend is that sometimes you can pretend that they want you too.

Presnel is many things. Friendly and outgoing are two traits that tend to come with the territory. Julian has learned to deal with the funny and loud types from his time with Leroy and Thomas. Even the whole, touchy-feely speel is something common for a team sport. But somehow it’s the combination of these things in Presnel that puts Julian on edge. And Presnel.. Presnel keeps pushing and Julian can’t find it in him to push back.

For all that he says Presnel is wild and unpredictable, they’ve fallen into a sort of comfortable routine: Presnel will put a friendly arm around his shoulder in training and Julian will follow suit, carefully wrapping his arm around Presnel's waist. If Presnel boards a plane first, he’ll save Julian a seat and expects him to do the same.

When Presnel deems his name to difficult or time consuming to use, Julian will respond to every version of babe he comes up with, each time ignoring how the band around his chest tightens. 

When Presnel tapes up Julian’s official national team portrait to his locker, Mon Amour written in undeniable block lettering across the top, Julian takes a photo for his instagram story and doesn’t caption it ‘If Only’.

When Presnel calls him, excitedly chattering on about some Youtube channel they absolutely have to be own, Julian doesn’t bother to ask for the channel name, just a date and time to show up. He doesn’t think about how much it feels like a date, he and Presnel sitting across from one another, knees knocking with every laugh. Even with the cameras, all Julian can focus on is Presnel’s smile and the way his heart flutters every time Presnel touches him.

(When the video gets posted, Leroy’s text sits accusingly at the top of his inbox for a week.

            _Bromance?_ )

 

So when the PSG video crew approaches them on the plane and Presnel tells him to blow a kiss to the camera, Julian figures it wouldn’t hurt anyone to feign misunderstanding. So he goes along with it as Presnel grabs at the base if his neck and points him to the camera. But instead of addressing them, he tilts his face slightly towards Presnel instead, pouts his lips and waits. Presnel follows his lead, gently pressing a kiss to Julian’s cheek. Presnel pulls back quickly, laughing as he wiggles his eyebrows at the camera. Resolutely ignoring the Look Eric is giving him across the aisle, Julian turns back to his phone and wills his blush away. It’s time like these that having someone who knows you so well can be dangerous.

 

When Presnel asks Eric to take a photo of them minutes later, sunglasses rested on the bridge of his nose, Julian doesn’t need to fake his smile. He’ll put his back on too (necessary) and then wrap his hand around Presnel’s bicep when he leans in (less necessary). Once he hears the camera click, Julian lets his hand linger for just a moment, before letting go and leaning back into his seat. He hums along with Presnel’s newest train of thought, paying more attention to his hands than what he’s actually saying.

Presnel catches his staring once or twice, but doesn’t stop talking, just winks at Julian and smiles a little wider at his blush.

The moment is ruined when Presnel gets up to go harass Thomas Meunier and Eric takes the opportunity to steal Presnel’s seat.  

“You should tell him.”

 

 Eric is nothing if not blunt.

 

“I’ll be sure to let him know you stopped by when he gets back.” Julian deflects, not taking his eyes off his phone.

 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

 

He reaches across the console and  forces to put his phone. Julian frowns, but can recognize a losing battle.

 

“There’s nothing to tell,” Julian whispers, shrugging his shoulders in a way he hope reads as nonchalant, “we’re friends, that’s all.”

 

 Eric gives him another look, all at once too knowing.

 

“You can keep telling yourself that, but in the end, you’re the one that’s going to get hurt.” 

 

There’s the hint of pity in his voice and Julian _hates_ it. 

 

“I can take care of myself,” Julian says , his tone as cold as the plane air.

 

Erik smiles and takes Julian’s hand into his.

 

“I know you can. That doesn’t mean I won’t be there to catch you when you fall.”

 

His eyes flick to the aisle and he squeezes Julian’s hand once more before getting up.

 

“Well if you ever want to talk about it...,” he trails off , nodding once to Julian, and returns to his own seat.

 

“What was that about?” Presnel asks as he sits back down.

 

“Nothing.” Julian says quickly. 

 

Presnel raises an eyebrow but doesn’t press. He opens his mouth as if to pick up the conversation where they left it but Julian is quick to cut him off.

 

“I think I’m gonna try and sleep a bit now, if you don’t mind.” 

 

“Of course not,” Presnel smiles, “babe needs his beauty sleep, I get it.”

 

And with that he takes Julian’s hand and, bringing it to his mouth, presses a light kisses to the back of it. Julian can feel his cheeks redden but otherwise just smiles and puts his eye mask, cranking up whatever song had been playing in the background. Maybe then he can pretend the sound he hears is the thrum of the base and not the pounding of his heart in his throat.

\-----------

When they land, Julian feels no better for having slept, his stomach turning over with some unknown combination of guilt and plane food.

Presnel smiles and starts up with their conversation again once he sees that Julians awake, but Julian can’t even feign attention, his brain still replaying his conversation with Eric.

So when Presnel starts to unload his bags from overhead compartment, Julian stays in his seat. He waits and watches as first Presnel, then Eric, then Thilo shuffle by, bags in hand, before he gets up and follows them.

He sticks close to Thilo and Kylian on the bus, throwing himself into their conversation and ignoring the glances Presnel keeps throwing at him from across the aisle.

Julian evades him at dinner too, choosing a seat between Gigi and Thiago before Presnel and all his chivalrous _pulling-out-a-chair-for-Julian_ can catch his eye. The conversation they have is stilted, but Gigi’s heavily accented French proves a welcome distraction.

He manages to keep the distance between them right up until one of the assistant coaches rattles off pairs for the sleeping arrangements, the familiar call of ‘Draxler et Kimpembe’ for once undesirable.  

Someone nudges him out of his stupor and, dutifully, he retrieves a room key from the assistant coaching, smiling half-heartedly and shoving it into a pocket as Presnel bounds from the opposite corner of the room and comes to rest next to Julian.

“Ready to get to bed, babe?” Presnel asks, the suggestive wiggle of his eyebrow rendering Julian speechless.

He’s saved from having to stammer out an answer by a godsend (Thilo) who links their arms and promptly sets off towards the elevator bay, not missing a beat in his conversation with Kylian. Presnel follows a step behind and but the walk across the lobby is long enough that Julian manages to find his voice by the time they all step into the elevator.

The ride up is quiet for the most part, the generic beat of the elevator’s music picking up where conversations had fallen off. Presnel didn’t seem particularly inclined to press him about dinner but  Julian is still on edge when Thilo and Kylian step off the elevator to their room, leaving him and Presnel alone for the ride up to their floor.

Saying Julian wouldn’t usually mind sharing a room with Presnel would be the understatement of the year but now that Choupo has gotten in his head, Julian thinks he’d rather be alone.

He flinches when Presnel grabs his hand as they step out of the hotel elevator and he laughs nervously when Presnel tries again, running his hands through his hair as he heads for the room, resolutely ignoring the whole situation and hoping that Presnel will do the same.

 

“Babe?” Presnel asks warily. 

 

Julian sighs. He’ll have no such luck today. Willing his voice to stay steady, he turns back around. 

 

“Yeah?” 

 

He forces a smile, praying Presnel won’t see straight through it. 

 

“You okay?” he asks, carefully walking towards Julian.

 

“Yeah, I’m  just … just tired is all, want to get to bed.”

 

Presnel frowns, but Julian’s leg have already made the executive decision to resume walking towards his room.  It’s not until he’s in front of his door, struggling to find his key, that Presnel catches up to him.

 

“I can’t do this anymore,” Julian says quietly, carefully staring at the doorknob.  

 

Presnel snorts.

 

“What, open a door? Not without a key you can’t.”

 

He slips his hand into the pocket of Julian’s joggers and fishes out the key, ignoring Julian as he unlocks the door. 

 

“Couldn’t have used your own?” Julian grumbles, pushing Presnel to get in the room.

 

He faceplants onto the first bed he sees and prays that Presnel will chalk up his weirdness to jet-lag or bad plane food and just let it slide, just this one.

 

The bed shifts, as Presnel sits down on the edge, and Julian thinks that he should have known better.

 

“Are we gonna talk about it, then,” Presnel asks, sounding more tired than Julian expected.

 

“I don’t know what you mean.”

 

Julian knows he’s being childish but keeps his head buried in the bedspread. He feels safer here, with a tight grip on the pillow and his face free from Presnel’s scrutiny.

 

“I mean, you’ve been acting weird since the plane. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

 

“Just hoping I guess.”

 

“What was that? Are you talking to me or the comforter?”

 

Now Presnel just sounded annoyed. Well two can play this game, Julian thought as he rolled over and forced himself into a sitting position.

 

“ I said, I was just hoping you’d let it go, okay? I get it, I’ve been acting strange. Can we just, drop it and go to sleep.”

 

Presnel’s eyes narrow, as if he’s trying to read something off of Julian’s face. Whatever he’s looking for, he doesn’t seem to find.

 

“Whatever you want, babe,” he sighs and reaches out to squeeze Julian’s thigh.

 

Except Julian’s still on edge, so when he jumps to his feet to avoid his hand, it sets Presnel off again.

 

“This is exactly what I’m talking about! Ever since the stupid video, you’ve been avoiding me! Listen,” he pauses to sit down and rests his head in his hands, “if this is because I pushed it too far and made you uncomfortable, all you have to do is tell me and I can back off.”

 

Now Julian just feels like an ass, Presnel is just trying to be friendly and Julian had to go and catch feelings and now he’s got to tell his best friend to stop touching him otherwise it’s going to give his heart the wrong idea.

 

“I don’t want you to back off that’s the problem, “ he mumbles into his hands.

 

“What was that?”

 

“I said,” Julian stands and figures he may as well look Presnel straight in the eyes one last time, “ I don’t want you to back off! I want you to-”

 

Presnel kisses him lightly, a simple close mouthed press of lips, one hand coming up to gently cradle the side of Julian’s face. The kiss ends as quickly as it had began, Presnel drawing back a little.

 

“Yeah, that exactly,” Julian says quietly, leaning back in hesitantly.

 

“If we’re gonna ,” he stops himself millimeters from Presnel’s lips. “If we’re going to do this, you need to know this isn’t some fun little messing around on the side thing. I want everything.”

 

Presnel smiles, wide and bright, his thumb stroking at the edge of Julian’s cheekbone.

 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, babe. I’m glad you’ve finally caught on."

 

See the best thing about being in love with your best friend: it turns out, sometimes they’re in love with you too.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah so that happened. if you've been following me on tumblr (which btw is the same as my ao3 handle), you may have seen some of the events referenced in this fic because these two really are just like that .... 
> 
> i have this personal goal of finishing about a fic a month this year (of which this is already a little late) so fingers crossed for that n then maybe y'all will see some more of them... 
> 
> unbeta'd so mistakes are all mine, let me know what you think!
> 
> title from ed sheeran's friends


End file.
